Richard Blee

Richard Blee (spook)
Parents	David Blee
Interest of	Ray Nowosielski
"???" contains an extrinsic dash or other characters that are invalid for a date interpretation.  Head,  Alec Station In office 1999 - ??? Employer CIA Appointed by George Tenet In office May 1989 - January 1991 Employer CIA Location Niger In office September 1984 - September 1986 Employer CIA Location Central African Republic

Richard Blee is a CIA officer who specifically obstructed investigation of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden in the run up to the 9/11 attacks.

Career

Richard Blee joined the CIA in 1984 (or earlier?). In 1999 George Tenet made him head of Alec Station (devoted to Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden).

In Harpers Magazine of January 2007, journalist Ken Silverstein wrote:

“Sources have told me that Blee has frequently been divisive and ineffective in previous positions.… His reputation and relationship with the military, especially the special-ops community, is very bad, based on substantive issues that arose during his time (in Afghanistan and Pakistan) post-9/11.… Another former official called Blee a ‘smart guy‘…, but described him as a terrible manager.”

9/11

Pasquale D’Amuro appointed inspector in charge of the FBI's investigation into the attacks said that he was told that Richard Blee, the chief of Alec Station, and his deputy, Tom Wilshere, had blocked the sharing of intelligence on Khalid Al Mihdhar and Nawaf Al Hazmi with the FBI. He said "I had heard that Blee stopped it from coming over, that Blee and Wilshere had had the conversation and stopped it. There’s no doubt in my mind that that went up further in the agency than just those two guys. And why they didn’t send it over — to this day, I don’t know why." Mark Gorton notes that Blee "committed multiple acts of treason by frustrating the efforts of honest law enforcement officials to stop the 9/11 plot".

Who is Rich Blee?

Richard Blee's name was revealed by a podcast entitled Who is Rich Blee? Legal threats were made to the producers of this podcast, John Duffy and Ray Nowosielski but they published it anyway.

Richard Blee "did not want to fight" on arrival in Afghanistan in December 2001, during the Battle of Tora Bora, despite campaigning for the transfer, according to Ralph Pezzullo at this event for the book by the man whom Blee succeeded, Gary Berntsen. Recorded 17th January 2006 at Dutton's Books in Beverly Hills. Broadcast 28th January 2006 by C-SPAN.

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References

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